Aadhaar Number Not Mandatory For Electoral Rolls, Will Make Changes In Forms To Enrol New Voters: ECI Tells Supreme Court

The Election Commission of India has given an undertaking to the Supreme Court that it will issue "appropriate clarificatory changes" in Forms 6 and 6B (for Registration in E-Roll) which required details of Aadhaar number for the purpose of electoral roll authentication for new voters.

The senior counsel appearing for the Election Commission also told a bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra that the submission of the Aadhar number was not mandatory under Rule 26-B of the Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules 2022.

The undertaking was made in a petition pointing out issues with Form 6 (Application Form for new voters) and Form 6B (Letter of Information of Aadhaar number for the purpose of electoral roll authentication) of the ECI forms for registration in e-roll.

The petition was filed by G.Niranjan, Senior Vice President , Telangana Pradesh Committee.

Senior Advocate Sukumar Pattjoshi, appearing on behalf of the ECI, along with Advocate Amit Sharma, submitted that nearly 66,23,00,000 Aadhar numbers had already been uploaded in the process of finalising electoral rolls. It was added that the submission of the Aadhaar number was not mandatory under Rule 26-B of the Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules 2022 and hence the Election Commission was looking into issuing appropriate clarificatory changes in the forms introduced for that purpose.

Based on the undertaking made by the ECI, the Court disposed of the writ petition. Advocate Narender Rao Thaneer and AOR Shravan Kumar Karnam argued on behalf of the petitioner.

The Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules 2022 was notified by the Central Government in June 2022 to provide for linking Aadhaar number with election ID cards. Form 6B is the application form by which a voter can inform the Aadhaar number for the purpose of electoral roll authentication.

These Rules were framed pursuant to the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which provided for voluntary linking of Aadhaar and voter cards. As per the law, linking Aadhaar with voter cards is not mandatory. A petition is pending in the Supreme Court challenging the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules 2022.

Also Read- Aadhaar-Voter ID Linking Voluntary; Voters' Names Won't Be Removed For Not Linking Voter ID With Aadhaar : Union Law Minister

Case Title: G Niranjan v Election Commission Of India | Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 177/2023

Citation : 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 805

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